


what a swipe can do

by watersandwisdom



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Modern AU, Zutara, based off tumblr prompt, business zuko, dating app au, nursing student katara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21569755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watersandwisdom/pseuds/watersandwisdom
Summary: a quick swipe to the left in an airport terminal among strangers really doesn't sound like an inciting incident. in this case, it made all the difference for zuko.ormodern au where the son of Ozai Corporation's CEO meets a caffeine fueled nursing student after she witnesses him swipe left on her dating profile. oh yeah, and apparently she has to sit with him through a five hour flight. perfect.based off this post: https://stuckyrecs.tumblr.com/post/188732940731/imagine-your-otp
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 146





	1. introductions

**Author's Note:**

> hey!! it's been a while and i know i haven't written in ages but i recently rewatched avatar: the last airbender and my love for zuko and katara was reignited. i had to write something for them. knowing me, i might struggle to update this story and the reason why i started was because of the fact im on thanksgiving break, but who knows?
> 
> im also aware of the fact that modern au's are possibly not favored in this fandom?? idk i could be wrong but i find that i struggle with writing canon compliant fics due to stressing out about being accurate in my stories whoops. but hey, let's see how this goes. i hope you enjoy and feedback is very appreciated :)

“Ouch, hard no for that one?”

Zuko turned his head towards the source of the chirp, undertones of both light offense and playfulness sewn into the women’s words as she commented. His eyes landed on a pair of eyes that reminded him of the ocean, they held an amusing glint and puffiness that was no doubt from her exhaustion at dawn.

He gulped, for the fact that he had just swiped left on the stupid dating app his uncle suggested— why in the world did he let Uncle Iroh convince him?— and to his realization, the same blue eyes staring back at him looked way too similar to the ones he had vaguely seen a minute ago on his screen.

_ Well, that’s awkward.  _

* * *

A string of colorful words left the young man’s lips while he grabbed his multiple pieces of luggage out of the Cadillac’s trunk. At least three of his bags were designated to check out and the duffel bag at his hip would be his carry on, each of them filled to the brim with whatever the hell Zuko threw in his rage-fueled episode. He hoped he at least packed a toothbrush.

“Sir,” his chauffeur’s voice trembled as he watched his boss’s son practically slam each suitcase onto the sidewalks, “Would you like some help?”

“I’m  _ fine _ .” Zuko’s tone was sharp and blunt, short breaths escaping from his nose as the anger continued to flow through him. The curses only continued as he began to drag each suitcase towards the automatic doors of the terminal, his obscenities earning him concerned glances and parents holding their hands up to their children’s ears, glaring daggers his way.

_ Right now, I would’ve just been getting to the office, coffee in hand, and no bullshit thrown in my way. _

Zuko grit his teeth as his father’s bitter words rang fresh in his head. It was only a night ago that their various arguments finally caught up to them, resulting in the demise of Zuko’s career as future CEO of Ozai Corporations.

“ _ You’ve brought nothing but dishonor to this company.”  _ His father was never one for beating around the bush and sympathy, especially when it came to his own kin. He was a businessman, short and simple— if anything, Ozai seemed to treat his company with more affection and respect than he did with his actual family.

Zuko found it pathetic. He had made that clear to his father and now here he was, trudging through JFK International Airport with an irritated look on his face that surely caused people to steer out of his way. He was at least thankful for that, as well as for the weight that was literally lifted off of his shoulders once he checked in his oversized luggage. At first, the CEO’s son seemed confused as Li and Lo, the main advisers of Ozai Corporation, handed him the multiple suitcases in his office that would be necessary for this trip. Zuko had convinced himself that his father was simply sending him off on a prolonged business trip that would give the two much needed space to cool down.

His reassurance was utterly crushed on the drive to JFK as his phone vibrated in the pocket of his slacks. The corner of Zuko’s mouth twitched at the letters shining on the screen. 

“Uncle.”

“Nephew!” Uncle Iroh’s jolly and gravelly voice rang through the phone, holding the everlasting enthusiasm that Zuko began to grow fond of over the years. He inched the phone away from his ear with a slight grimace, a low chuckle escaping his throat.

“What brings you to call?” It wasn’t quite often that Uncle Iroh graced Zuko’s call log due to his growing tea business. Jasmine Dragon originated in a tiny storefront along Fifth Avenue in the bustling Manhattan area, his uncle’s teas slowly became a hit among New Yorkers and Iroh decided to expand from his small shop. As of now, he resided in California where his attempts at introducing Californians to his brews were starting off successfully. Zuko’s mouth twitched to a frown as he realized the time difference between the two regions meant Uncle was calling at three in the morning.

“I was checking up on you, seeing if you were on the way to the airport.” Zuko’s jaw clenched slightly, it seems the news of his trip had spread around quickly and yet, Zuko didn’t even have a clue where his destination was. “I’ll be picking you up at ten, yes?”

Uncle Iroh’s question had unknowingly set a bomb off in his nephew’s head and answered a good amount of the million questions Zuko had himself. It dawned on him that this trip wasn’t for business ordeals. His father was sending him to Uncle Iroh.

He was sending him to California.

“Zuko? Zuko, are you there?” Concern laced Uncle Iroh’s voice once Zuko fell silent for a minute too long. He must’ve had no idea about Zuko’s lack of knowledge on his own exile.

“I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you when I land.” With that, Zuko hung up the phone and practically steamed in fury along the whole drive. Now, here he was.

His flight would not begin boarding until seven and it was currently 6:15, despite it being the beginning of dawn, the terminal was crowded as businessmen and women alike stalked the halls with suitcases and briefcases in hand, as well as families tugging one another around to stay together in the hustle and bustle of the New York airport. Zuko ran a hand through his hair to sweep it out of his eyesight and with a groan, he sought out a place to situate and isolate himself until his flight began boarding.

The terminal’s appeal was of no importance to Zuko for that he simply wanted to get this whole thing over with. His mind wasn’t exactly in the clearest state. It angered him that his father couldn’t even spare the details of his trip, not only that, Ozai wanted him out of his sights as soon as possible. He couldn’t possibly believe that a simple comment made during a meeting regarding a newfound marketing deal between Ozai’s company and Dai Li Agencies could send his father into such rage. It only confirmed the monstrosities of Ozai that Zuko continued to see throughout his life, one of them being at age thirteen when his father had gotten so angry that a simple wrong place, wrong time moment brought a freshly heated fire poker to Zuko’s left cheek. The memory scarred him, literally, and at the ripe age of 21, it had gotten to the breaking point.

A long breath left Zuko’s lips in an attempt to calm himself and temporarily push his feelings of outrage towards the back of his brain. He thought back to Uncle Iroh’s attempts at getting him to meditate and chuckled to himself, shaking his head at how ridiculous he’d look to follow through with his Uncle’s teachings in the middle of the terminal. Nevertheless, he shut his eyes and somehow among the multiple voices ringing throughout the terminal’s crowd, Zuko managed to fall asleep.

* * *

“Flight 0320 to San Diego, California will now begin boarding. Once again, Flight 0320 to San Diego California will now begin boarding.” Zuko groaned and blinked his eyes back open, rubbing his good eye to rid the grogginess from his short nap. He watched as people began to line up once their groups were called by letter, the boarding pass clutched in his hand informed him that he would be part of Group C and seating in row 18. It was strange. The son of a CEO to a multimillion dollar company had grown accustomed to flying first class on the occasional business trip ventures with his father and colleagues. Zuko sighed and stretched out his limbs, he would have to make due during the 5 hour flight, he’d survive.

“Group C will now begin boarding,” called out the airline’s employee and Zuko once again found himself in a crowd, pushed shoulder to shoulder with people of different ages, races, and travel purposes. He grit his teeth and pulled out his phone to distract himself, the device glared up at him with countless notifications that he had not bothered to check in his fury induced time. A certain green shaded app caught his attention, a red bubble fixated in the corner indicating a good amount of notifications. Zuko’s eyebrow arched up in slight interest, tapping on “Wu Match” to clear the notifications.

To be fair, Zuko hadn’t downloaded the dating app by his own will. The company had swamped the young man in a heavy workload that he had no complaints about, afterall, he was shaping himself to follow in his father’s footsteps of becoming CEO. Uncle Iroh had taken note of his nephew’s social life— or lack thereof— and insisted Zuko to download Wu Match. Apparently, the app had been created by one of Iroh’s old friends who goes by the name of Aunt Wu, Zuko had met her once very briefly and the old woman was convinced she knew a person’s fortune and love life. He thought it was all bullshit but he wouldn’t want to rain on his Uncle’s parade, though the knowledge of his Uncle being a participant on the app rather disturbed him.

Zuko paid no attention to the various faces that smiled at him through his screen, continuously swiping to the left to decline their offers at trying to match with him. There was no point to a relationship at such an urgent time, Zuko was in no fit for a relationship after the horrors his father had recently unleashed on him. After swiping left on the last profile, Zuko’s ear perked at the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“Ouch, hard no for that one?”

Zuko turned his head towards the source of the chirp, undertones of both light offense and playfulness sewn into the women’s words as she commented. His eyes landed on a pair of eyes that reminded him of the ocean, they held an amusing glint and puffiness that was no doubt from her exhaustion at dawn.

He gulped, for the fact that he had just swiped left on the stupid dating app his uncle suggested— why in the world did he let Uncle Iroh convince him?— and to his realization, the same blue eyes staring back at him looked way too similar to the ones he had vaguely seen a minute ago on his screen.

_ Well, that’s awkward.  _

“Oh— I uh… I didn’t—,” Zuko’s attempt at an excuse was futile and his hand absentmindedly came up to rub the back of his neck. Agni, what were the odds that a single soul on this app happened to be less than a few feet away from him? A sheepishness and slight embarrassment pooled in his stomach as he searched for words or an explanation. It would be a difficult task to explain his unwilling download of the app and that involved talking to her. That was something Zuko did not want to do as of late.

A sigh of relief nearly left his lips as the young woman in front of him began to laugh.

“Relax, relax. I was kidding,” she held a mocha colored hand up to her lips to hide the sly smile beginning to form. This earned a scowl from Zuko and he turned away, shouldering his duffle bag and making it clear he had no further intentions to converse with her. “So… headed to San Diego?”

A few seconds passed and Zuko contemplated whether or not to respond, the later clearly making him appear as an asshole.  _ I mean, that isn’t exactly incorrect.  _ And yet, he chose the former.

“Apparently,” he murmured and he was surprised to find that the women heard him. A simple confused sound emerged from her and she began to respond. Fortunately to Zuko, she was cut short when he had reached the attendant scanning and collecting the boarding passes. He had a knowing feeling that she would comment on his choice of words, wondering why it wasn’t such a solid fact that he was headed to the Southern California city. His thoughts continued to run off into possible scenarios, occasionally addressing what he would be doing right now if he hadn’t gotten into it with his father as he handed the attendant his boarding pass.

“Row 18, seat 54. Welcome aboard,” the flight attendant gave him a polite smile as he nodded his head in thanks and walked at a pace that hopefully did not seem intentionally quick to outrun the blue-eyed girl from the line. It was awkward enough that she witnessed him basically reject her on a dating app and now, he simply wanted to avoid a chance at her talking his ears off.

Zuko was successful in his moderate pace but his distance from the sky bridge’s entrance was enough to overhear the attendants words.

“Row 18, seat 55. Welcome aboard, miss.”

The familiar soft voice of the women stated a quick greeting of thanks and Zuko evidently paled, his teeth pressing against each other as his jaw tightened.

Of course, she was seated directly next to him.

For a fucking five hour flight.

“Could this week get any worse?”

  
  



	2. introductions pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> our favorite gal, katara's pov!! that's pretty much all this is :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! it's been a while and i apologize, life and school has gotten very hectic but with this whole ordeal going on, i'm going to have lots of time to spare for writing. feedback in the comments and kudos are much appreciated! thank you to the comments on the last chapter, they really inspire me and motivate me :)

“Katara— what in the? It’s three am!! You know not to call me at this hour, I should be long gone in my beauty sleep…!”

A sigh escaped Katara’s lips as the shrill yet gruff voice of her older brother rang through the phone, his greeting earning an eye roll and the cross of her arms in the backseat of her taxi. If anything, she was surprised that he had even answered the phone considering the three hour time difference between them. It had taken a little adjusting on her part once she arrived on the east coast, she missed both the time zone and the weather of her southern Californian home. But now, looking out the window, she realized she was going to miss the wondrous sunrises and sunsets that adorned the Manhattan skyline. At the brink of dawn, the sun’s rays shone softly and the various skyscrapers reflected the pink, orange, and yellow hues of the early sunrise.

In her sky gazing, she had tuned out Sokka’s obnoxious rant regarding how precious his sleep was  _ especially  _ because tomorrow—  _ well, I guess technically tonight _ , he stated— is his one year anniversary with Suki in which he planned a whole extravaganza.

“Thus, my beauty sleep is important. Thank you very much.”

“Yeah, you need it,” muttered Katara as she glared down at her boots. Her distasteful response earned a sharp “hey!” and she could only roll her eyes once again. “I’m sorry for ruining your ‘beauty sleep’, but I called to make sure you and Dad were picking me up after my flight?”

Silence met her voice on the other end of the call. “That was today?”

“Sokka!”

“I’m joking, I’m joking. Of course we’re picking you up, I finally get to torment you again. You’ve been away at that program for so long. What’d they make you do? Climb the Empire State Building?” Sokka’s lighthearted crack at a joke made Katara giggle, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She had to admit, she found herself to be terribly homesick the first week of her nursing program, but after making a few friends and getting used to the city, she felt content.

“Very funny but no,” just as she spoke, the taxi jerked to a stop in front of the JFK terminal’s entrance. Katara glared daggers at the back of the driver’s head and he turned around with an expression that held no emotion whatsoever.

“That’ll be 38 dollars.” The taxi driver’s gruff words caused Katara’s eyes to widen, muttering to herself that she should’ve gotten an Uber instead. Nevertheless, she fished out the money from her wallet and handed the change to the man.

“Hey listen Sokka, I’ll call you once I land okay? I gotta check in my bags right now,” the young woman huffed as she opened the trunk of the yellow vehicle, pulling out her suitcase and backpack that served as her emergency carry on. You never know when your luggage could get lost, although, she guessed it wasn’t really necessary this leg of the trip considering she would be coming back home.

“Alright, will do, sis. Have a safe flight, don’t get stranded..,” Sokka’s voice struggled and became a hushed whisper, soon being followed by a loud snore. Katara pulled the phone away from her ear and groaned in annoyance, of course her brother fell asleep over the phone. She didn’t blame him considering what time it was over at home, but she most definitely did not miss his unpleasant snoring.

“Thanks, Sokka. Sweet dreams.” With that, she hung up the phone and shoved it into the pocket of her leggings.

Despite its crowdedness, Katara managed to check in her bags and retrieve her boarding pass in a mere twenty minutes or so. She shouldered her backpack swiftly and walked through the terminal, searching for her gate and the name of her destination.

She was finally going home.

It had been a whole month since she left the county of San Diego for New York City and to be honest, the trip had been a spontaneous one. She made the commute to UC Irvine that she was graciously accepted into for nursing and one day, thanks to the encouragement from her friends, she decided on a whim to apply for the Yugoda Scholarship Program that would fly their participants out to Columbia University. Katara remembers the day she ripped open the acceptance letter, bursting into her brother’s room and nearly putting herself into a disturbing situation that involved Sokka pushing Suki off of his bed last minute. The memory made her grimace.

Ultimately, the program allowed the nineteen year old to expand her knowledge on one of the things she had always loved doing. Being a nurse for others didn’t just heal them, but it also built connections between nurse and patient with possibilities of changing one’s life for the better. But now, she missed home dearly and itched to return back to her father’s beach house, digging her toes into the La Jolla sands and getting to surf with her dad just like old times. Hakoda had shown reluctance in sending his youngest to the other side of the country but after a lecture from Gran Gran and a look into his daughter’s pleading eyes, he gave way and began helping Katara pack.

By the time Katara had reached her gate, they had already started to board and she cursed, glancing down at her boarding pass to confirm which group she would be boarding with.

“Group C will now begin boarding.” The attendant’s shrill voice rang over the terminal’s speaker and she weaved her way through suitcases and their owners, squeaking out hasty apologies as she situated herself in line to board.

As she caught her breath, her eyes looked among the other passengers that would be flying to California. It was possible that she could come across a familiar face considering the program was incredibly selective with what universities they offered themselves to. Instead of finding a person she had met, her eyes lingered on angry red.

She hadn’t meant to stare. Her face flushed with realization of her actions, knowing the man must have received enough looks of concern and disgust, except her thoughts held no horrid beliefs whatsoever. The scar that ran along the man’s ear to just before the bridge of his nose looked as if it was from years ago. A frown ran along Katara’s lips, doubting the healing process that the man must’ve taken over the years to treat his injury. Her eyes then averted from his cheek and drifted towards his phone, noticing his quick swiping movements on an app she recognized far too well.

Wu Match had been a sad attempt at Suki trying to “spice up Katara’s love life”— Suki’s words, not hers— and Katara barely had time to protest considering her brother’s girlfriend had already started a profile for her.

_ “Katara, come on. At least keep the app and see if anyone tries to match with you! You never know, it might come useful in New York too.” _ Suki had said with a sly wink and Katara flushed red, yelling in disagreement as she snatched her phone out from the giggling girl’s hand. Katara followed Suki’s request but never once touched the app again. Her recent ventures in the dating life had gone stale after a few attempts, one of the worst had to be with a guy named Jet. The two had met at UC Irvine, got to talking, yadda yadda yadda, things broke off.

Now as she watched the man in front of her continuously swipe, she figured that he was barely paying any attention to the many faces that grinned at him from the screen. Katara deemed that it was probably creepy to watch his actions and decided to tear her eyes away until a far too familiar face popped up on the man’s phone.

“ _ No, there is no way that’s going to be my profile picture.”  _ Katara’s memories shifted back to the day after Suki downloaded the horrendous app onto her phone. She had no idea why she was allowing Suki to keep the profile she had made for her as they were currently going through options for Katara’s profile icon. The one Suki had selected just now was from Katara’s eighteenth birthday party— the birthday party that her father was  _ unaware  _ of— and the girl beaming cheekily at the camera was dressed in her favorite mini blue slip dress, face in moderate amounts of makeup by Suki, and the red flush on her cheeks from the few sips of alcohol her older friend had allowed her. “ _ That just— that isn’t  _ me.” 

_ “Yeah, you have a good point.”  _ Suki gave the younger girl a smile and was given no chance to change it when Sokka barged through Katara’s door. Her older brother instantly burst into a rant exclaiming how he was currently in a debate with one of their dear friends, Toph Beifong, discussing the importance of the numerous meals Sokka ate throughout the day. Suki and Katara had merely glanced at one another, erupting in a fit of laughter as Sokka begged for support on his side.

It seems that Suki had already made a few choices of matches for Katara unbeknownst to the later and Katara could only roll her eyes, wondering how many other guys were out there that received an attempted match from her that she hadn’t even sent herself. The young woman could imagine her close friend coming across the profile of the man in front of her and swiping right, glancing up at a preoccupied Katara.

Swipe left. She watched as the man tucked his phone away in the pocket of his pants. Her eyebrows furrowed.  _ Spirits, who has the courage to wear slacks and a tie on a five hour flight?  _

Suddenly, her mouth opened before she could stop herself.

“Ouch, hard no for that one?”

Katara watched as the man’s head turned and found herself amused to see the shocked expression dawning on his features, he was beginning to realize he had just rejected her on a dating app. No hard feelings were taken at all to the girl, if anything, she stifled her giggles while the man stuttered, desperately trying to grab onto some excuses.

To her surprise, the rest of his face wasn’t all that bad. Besides his scar, the other particular thing that caught her eye was the peculiar color that stared back at her. Amongst the amber, she saw his anxiety spike in embarrassment and instantly close off as the man scowled. How friendly.

Her attempts at small talk were unsuccessful and she huffed a sigh, hearing the flight attendant state the row that the man would be sitting in. She could vaguely remember the numbers printed in black upon the slip of paper folded in her palm, her ears catching the quick “54” the attendant uttered to the man.

_ This is going to be interesting,  _ Katara wondered.

She trotted down the narrow aisle of the plane, swiftly avoiding other passengers’ limbs and waiting patiently as they attempted shoving their carry on bags into the overhead compartments. Finally, Katara found herself standing in the aisle, trying her best to scoot into the tight space of her row. The man from the line earlier had already situated himself in the seat closest to the window. Her lips tilted themselves downwards in a frown, she had been hoping to have the window seat for the ride home.

“We meet again.” Her simple remark was met with the anticipated reactions— absolutely nothing from the man. It was no surprise that he would be a man of no words, he gave such vibe already with his dress slacks and white button up, the classical black tie wrapped around his neck and hidden in his collar. Katara was at least grateful that she earned a somewhat vulnerable reaction from him when she had caught him red-handed in the midst of her own rejection.

She perched herself down onto the uncomfortable blue seats, cursing the airline and praying to the Spirits that despite all the unpleasant factors she had already discovered, her flight would be bearable. The book tucked away in her backpack and the downloaded playlist of music stored on her phone would be enough to get her through it.

Before she knew it, the flight crew were beginning to prepare for liftoff and the hum of the engine overpowered the blur of voices among the passengers. Katara inhaled deeply, gripping the arms of her seat lightly as the anticipation of the plane to take off would soon begin. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the man taking the same action, however, he held on much tighter to where his knuckles showcased the white of his bones. Her gaze moved to his jaw that was locked tightly as his teeth clenched together, it seems he wasn’t one for flying.

“Talk to me,” Katara found herself saying and the look she received was one of skepticism and annoyance. She felt the back of her neck flush and cleared her throat, she hadn’t meant for her words to slip out but it was evident the man would need it. “It’ll distract you from taking off.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed and a gruff breath emitted from his throat along with a pink tint coming into view, revealing the slight sheepishness for his anxiety had been plain obvious to Katara. She shook her head as no reply came from him. Of course it had been foolish of her to even try conversing when her multiple attempts beforehand were vain.

“I don’t fly often.” His words sounded strained and slightly raised as the hum of the engine increased in volume, indicating that they would take off at any moment now. Katara could feel the thrumming in her heart and she stopped herself from gaping at the fact he had taken her advice. Her lips turned into a warm smile as the man’s gaze dropped from her to the seat in front of him. She had also been new to flying and remembered the plane ride to the Big Apple, thankfully, she had sat next to an older woman by the name of Hama who noticed her displeasure and helped her through it. Katara was merely relaying that same advice to the man next to her.

“I can see that,” she remarked, nearly yelling over the noise while the aircraft began its approach forward, her stomach jumped at the thought of the plane increasing in speed very shortly in order to lift off. “It’s only my second time flying.”

She watched as his eyebrow shot up, his eyes catching her stare and giving her a once over. “You seem to be doing a whole lot better than me.”

Her lips parted to shoot a retort but the acceleration of the aircraft clamped them shut. Blue was soon hidden by her eyelids and Katara could feel her stomach twist and turn as the aircraft ascended. She chewed on her lip and waited til they had come to a still, simply floating in the sky a couple thousand feet up with no care in the world.

  
  



End file.
